This vegetarian pie is the ultimate winter warmer.
This vegetarian ragu recipe is a capsule recipe (not sure that's a term, but what I mean is that similarly to a capsule wardrobe, you can use this in a lot of different dishes). It's my alternative to a traditional ragu that's full of plant protein and fibre with no compromise on texture and flavour.
Here I've made it into a vegetarian pie, and to make it super quick and simple to assemble, but also because I love them so much, I've topped it with gnocchi. I can't recommend this enough as a healthy comfort food and wholesome dish for the winter.
Ingredients: (serves 4-5)
4 onions
4 celery sticks
3 carrots
3 parsnips
400g button mushrooms
90g walnuts
3 garlic cloves
1 Tbs EVOO
250mL red wine or beer or red vermouth (or a blend of what you have opened)
2 tins of tomatoes
1 tin of butter beans
1 tin of green lentils
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs dijon mustard
Salt
600g gnocchi
Method:
Start off by making the ragu:
Peel and dice all the vegetables, go as small as you can or use a food processor if you have one and would rather.
Roughly chop the walnuts.
Grate or crush the peeled garlic cloves.
In an large saucepan such as a casserole (or dutch oven), heat up the oil on a medium-low heat. Start by sweating off the onions, celery, parsnips and carrots with a lid for at least 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and sweat them off without the lid until they start to brown.
Deglaze the pan with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and the alcohol (you can use vegetable stock if you would rather keep this alcohol-free, or with dried mushrooms in the stock also that would be even better).
Add the garlic and walnuts before stirring.
Add the tinned butter beans, green lentils and tinned tomatoes. Fill both tomato tins to the half way point with water and add that water to the pan, then stir until incorporated.
Bring the mix to a low simmer then leave for 30 minutes or until it has nicely thickened and deepened in colour. Remember to stir occasionally to stop it sticking to the bottom.
Leave to cool down a little bit, you can freeze some of the ragu if you are making a smaller pie to use at another time.
Construct and bake the pie:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Grease an oven proof dish with oil, spoon in the ragu to fill 2/3rds of the dish.
Top it with gnocchi until all the ragu is covered.
Grate grana padano or any cheese of choice on top (or drizzle with EVOO if you don't want any cheese) then bake for 45 minutes or until it is golden brown.
Serve generous spoonfuls on to a plate and enjoy, bon appétit!
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More about this recipe:
I love this vegetarian ragu recipe! It takes a bit of time to make so my recommendation would be to batch make some during the weekend, it can be frozen and it's brilliant with pasta instead of bolognese, on toast for lunch or as a vegetarian pie filling. There's lots of different textures and savoury elements to make sure you don't miss the meat and your umami taste buds are satisfied. It's also full of fibre, protein (with different sources for different amino acids), vitamins and minerals.
I love a pie in winter because they're so warm and comforting. I had a thought to top them with gnocchi instead of mash potatoes and I can't recommend it enough. Not only does it take less time to make but they also soak up the flavour from the filling and go super crispy on top! A lovely wholesome meal to cosy up in the winter.
You can easily make it vegan by choosing the right gnocchi in store and replacing the cheese on top with a drizzle of olive oil or vegan mozzarella.
You can also swap out the gnocchi for mashed sweet potato if you'd like an even healthier option.
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